He saves her life all the time and never complains.
We’re talking about the beloved video game character, Link, and the beautiful princess
Zelda.
But does Zelda appreciate his efforts?
Depending on which game you’re playing, the dynamics of the relationship often seem
confusing with not so much as a hug exchanged between the two.
And while we’re looking into the matter, we may as well try to figure out why Link’s
other potential romantic liaisons never seem to go anywhere either.
For your amusement, we’ve opted to stick our nose where it doesn’t belong and delve
into the topic of Link’s love life in order to answer the big question: is Link in the
friendzone?
You’d think that because of his physical fitness, agility, superb fighting ability,
and stash of impressive weaponry that Link would have no problem with the ladies.
He’s also not a bad-looking guy as evidenced by others’ reactions of him.
For the sake of being thorough, we’re going to run through this game by game.
But, before we go on, we should warn you that this episode contains spoilers, so if you
haven’t played any of the Legend of Zelda games yet, we’d recommend doing so before
continuing this video.
The first game up for discussion on this list is Link's Awakening.
In this game, Link wakes up on Koholint Island to find Marin, a girl who kind of looks like
Zelda.
Even though the game is essentially a dream, there are definitely a lot of hints that Marin
likes Link.
There is a scene on the beach under some palm trees where she wants to know everything about
him, before awkwardly retracting the question.
At another point she almost confesses her love but gets interrupted by her father.
Although maybe admitting your love for someone in front of your father isn't a great idea
to begin with.
When you literally pick up Marin later, the game asks “Is this your chance?”
heavily implying a relationship.
Link could never be with Marin though, as at the end of the game the entire Island goes
away due to the windfish being awakened.
The phrase, “not even in your dreams,” strikes true relevance here.
The next game on our list is Ocarina of Time.
When Link meets Zelda in this game, there is nothing special early on.
She has a vision and realizes Link is the hero of time.
Later she trusts him with the ocarina.
However, as the game progresses, she gives Link the light arrows needed to defeat Ganon
right before she is taken away.
After Link defeats him, they share a moment, actually holding hands at the ending cutscene
– finally, some action, right?
But no, not really.
Hand holding is the furthest Link gets with the Zelda in this game.
Malon is another suggested love interest in Ocarina of Time.
After waking her father up from a long slumber on a milk delivery, she thanks Link and teaches
him Epona's Song.
In case you didn’t already know, Epona is Link’s horse.
The song Malon teaches allows him to mount Epona and eventually win her to ride across
Hyrule.
Not too much is known about the romantic part of the relationship between Link and Malon.
Though it is possible that they end up together due to Twilight Princess Link growing up in
Ordon, a farm town at the edge of Hyrule, it is not explicitly shown.
Thus, we are mostly left in the dark about whether Link had any success with this particular
relationship.
In all likelihood though, this was strictly another friend relationship and nothing more.
Ocarina of Time is full of potential damsels for Link and Saria is another one.
Saria, being Link's childhood friend in Ocarina of time, was always kind to him and stuck
up for him when the others in the kokiri forest did not.
She even gave him the fairy ocarina.
She teaches Link “Saria's Song” so that he can talk to her no matter where in Hyrule
he goes.
However, they are just childhood friends and nothing more.
Now we turn to Ruto, another potential love interest for Link and a member of the Zora.
Once he meets Ruto inside Jabu Jabu there really isn't much to say other than she is
a stuck-up fish princess.
She forces him to carry her everywhere through the dungeon to find Zora's Sapphire.
Talk about high maintenance!
When Link does get the Sapphire, she gives it to him, but only in exchange for a promise
of marriage.
We do not encourage committing to a marriage at age 10, but if you do, you might not want
to do it with a fish woman.
Things could get a little smelly…
Later in the game, Ruto is angry at link for making her wait years to see him again.
Once again, she is depicted as being controlling and there are a lot of red flags with this
potential relationship.
While Link could not be in the friend zone with this particular character, he is probably
wise to maintain a safe distance from her.
After all, she seems a little unstable.
In this case, it is a good thing Link isn’t overly desperate.
Before we move on to another game, we should mention the character, Nabooru.
When Link first encounters her, she first just uses him to get the silver gauntlets
and doesn't think much of him.
However, she later comments that she would not have treated him so poorly if she knew
what a handsome man he would become.
It is uncertain what would have happened with this relationship if allowed to continue.
But, alas, Link seems to be once again denied this potential rendezvous.
Poor guy can’t seem to catch a break!
The third game on our list is Majora's Mask.
In this game, the hinted love interest under discussion is Cremia.
After completing the side quest for Romani's mask, if you play the same side quest a second
time after resetting the game with song of time, there is a chance Cremia will give Link
a hug.
Yes, an actual hug!
Finally, right?!
It is about time!
But this is all the relationship leads to and we should mention that it is more of just
a simple “thank you” hug.
Since Cremia is Romani's older sister, her relationship with Link is strictly platonic.
Nothing happens here and Link is once again placed in the dreaded friend zone.
Next, we briefly discuss Tetra from the game, Wind Waker.
Tetra is a pirate that takes Link away from Outset Island.
Their relationship is complicated as Tetra doesn't really want to have anything to do
with Link at first besides a business type of relationship.
However, Link saves her when she is kidnapped, and Tetra is eventually revealed to be princess
Zelda.
But nothing really happens between the two of them in this game.
Thus, we do not think it is worthy of further examination.
Okay, now we turn our attention to Twilight Princess.
No, not “Twilight” as in sparkling vampires.
Twilight Princess, the game!
In this game, there are a few potential love interests, one being Ilia.
There’s one particular scene where Link had a perfect opening to make a move with
Ilia but didn’t.
We suppose you could say it was one of those “dude…” moments.
The villager children and Gorons even left the room to grant Link and Ilia some space
so that they could be alone.
It was a tender moment in the game with every inclination that something was cooking romantically
between the two characters.
Ilia gave Link a floating horse-call necklace that she made for him and the two were locked
momentarily in an admiring gaze.
The anticipation was high but, in the end, it was followed by disappointment.
Though Link had every opportunity to venture out of friendship territory with Ilia right
then and there, eye contact was all that ensued.
This sparked a lot of frustration for any fan who had shipped the Ilia-Link dynamic.
Do we think Link could have had a shot with Ilia in this scene?
Most definitely.
Then why didn’t he do anything aside from just stand there and stare at her?
We suspect that Link must be mostly oblivious when it comes to love.
At least as it pertains to this case…
Midna was another potential love interest that Link did not act on in Twilight Princess.
We examined an online thread where a fan posted that he felt Link stopped caring about Ilia
at some point during the game as he grew closer to Midna.
At the conclusion of Twilight Princess, Link looked upon Midna’s true, humanized form
and gaped.
You could tell by his expression that he was clearly attracted and infatuated with her
in that moment.
Yet, when she gave him an opening, saying playfully, “what?
Say something,” Link just returned with a blank stare and did nothing.
This was arguably another “dude…” moment for the beloved lead character.
If you continue to watch after the credits, there is another moment at the end of the
game when Midna says “Link...” as if she is about to tell him she loves him.
But, alas, she does not.
And of course, as it applies to Zelda in this game, there is nothing more than a platonic
relationship between she and Link.
Thus, our hero is once again left in the lurch.
Next: Skyward Sword.
In this game, Zelda and Link are friends from the start and have liked each other for years.
Link has been in a competition with Groose and others in Skyloft for years to get Zelda’s
attention.
However, she is uninterested in them.
At the sky ceremony at the beginning of the game, Zelda asks link if he knows “how it
ends.”
In this moment, she leans against his chest.
Aside from the Easter egg hug Link received from Cremia in Majora's Mask, this may be
the most action he’s ever received at this point.
For a moment, we are led to believe that a kiss will happen between them, but it does
not.
Skyward sword is full of many small romantic interactions and flirtations, especially during
the start of the game to help build the foundation of the relationship.
Once the game is over, Link and Zelda decide to stay on the surface and protect the triforce.
Though it is implied that they get together, the evidence is inconclusive.
We can only presume that this was the Hero’s best chance of winding up with Zelda.
Moving on to the game, Hyrule Warriors, Lana and Cia are the potential love interests.
They are two people who were once composed of one individual.
Lana and Cia are so in love with link that Lana literally splits away from Cia because
Cia wants to kidnap Link.
Lana wants to save Link and the world, but Cia just wants link and does not care about
the world.
Despite having two chicks after him, players are left disappointed when nothing happens
romantically for Link.
Dude…
Finally, we discuss the last game on this list: Breath of the Wild.
There is plenty in this game to hint that Link is admired and found attractive to others.
Consider Paya for instance.
Paya thinks link is handsome and writes about him in her diary.
She is like a giddy schoolgirl with a huge crush as she stumbles over her words when
conversing with him.
She also has an embarrassed reaction if he approaches her without clothing on.
Then there is Mipha, a Zora and another girl in this game who is clearly in love with Link.
A declaration of this love was made when she crafted armor for him.
In Zora culture, making armor for a man is a gesture granted by the female to the one
she chooses to marry.
Unfortunately, Mipha is a spirit by the time Link learns this so nothing romantic ensues.
It is but a tragic love that only seems to go one way.
If you have collected and watched all the memories in Breath of The Wild, there is much
to hint that something is stirring up romantically between Link and Zelda.
Though she is not fond with him at the beginning, associating him with her own failures, we
clearly see that her view of him abruptly changes when Link saves her life.
The glow in her expression says it all as he poses heroically in a defensive stance
in front of her, guarding her from enemies.
Zelda also flings herself into Link’s arms for comfort in another scene while overcome
with despair over Calamity Ganon.
So, from what we can tell, some intimacy is definitely hinted here.
Could Zelda finally be forming feelings for her appointed knight?
Unfortunately, we won’t know the answer to that for sure until the sequel is released.
We can only speculate that maybe Link will finally get lucky.
Still, we should mention the complications with such a match.
Being a princess, it is possible that Zelda is required to marry a prince.
Thus, she may be restricted from having a relationship with Link.
Additionally, Link may not want to initiate something with Zelda because he must abide
by his professional duty as her official protector.
With this in mind and given Link’s past history with women, there is a good chance
he might let this opportunity slip from his grasp as well.
Since he doesn’t really talk, we can only speculate that maybe Link’s a little bit
socially awkward.
He’s a confident fighter – that’s for sure – but sometimes he can seem very oblivious
and perhaps even shy to romantic advances that are directed towards him.
Maybe this is why he never seems to make a move.
Either that or he is just so busy with being a hero that he doesn’t have time for love.
It can be hard to tell.
In the majority of the cases we have discussed, however, it would appear that Link is indeed
in the friendzone.
We’d have to presume this to be the case but mainly because he places himself into
that category.
He is presented with many chances but never seems to pursue opportunities as they arise.
Still, at least he’s not one of those internet “nice guys” on forums who are angry at
the world for being friend zoned.
It’s tough to imagine Link wearing a fedora.
Overall, our consensus is that, although Link is friendzoned, he might not be for much longer.
Who knows?
We might be in for a surprise if the writers finally have Link act and make his move with
Zelda in the highly anticipated Breath of The Wild 2.
Do you agree with us that Link is in the friendzone?
Why do you believe he hasn’t initiated any romantic relationships?
Are there any other potential love interests that we missed on this list?
Let us know what you think in the comments!
Also, be sure to check out our other video Is She Into You?
Signs & Signals of Attraction!
Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe.
See you next time!